Have you moved from MS Windows to a Linux-based desktop OS?

I'm interested in hearing from people who have migrated away from Windows to a Linux-based OS, such as Ubuntu.

Did you do it gradually - working in both OS's for a while until you got used to Linux?
Did you manage to find replacements for all of your Windows applications, or did you have to make some sacrifices?

Do you now prefer your Linux OS or are you considering a move back to Windows?

On my old gateway PC I have Ubuntu on it, but I never use it I did give it try a long time ago, but I just had problems getting it to work properly and eventually I just gave up and went back to XP maybe one day when I have more time I will give it another go.

I've only been using Linux for a year and a bit and the change was slow. This summer I had much time to get used to and learn about the operating system. I technically switched over entirely a week or two ago. I log into Windows 8 after a week or two and get a message about how my user profile is corrupted. I had to get rid of it. Just yesterday I switched from Xubuntu to Mint XFCE. I still have a few hundred GB's reserved in case I need Windows again, but I probably wont, and I'm happy with that.

Well it wasn't two weeks. I tried it when I finally got my first laptop last year (August 2012). I was really scared at first, I didn't learn too much outside of Windows for the past few years I was interested in computers. I was afraid of loosing Windows forever, and partitioning scared me half to death. I ended up using Windows for a few months straight then Linux for a month or so, always falling back to Windows. In June after exams I got a week to goof off. Then I got back to learning. I was really interested in Linux and had the time to dedicate. So I messed around with it more than I ever had, trying different distros, repartitioning my disk (One time I had to reformat my entire laptop after an incident with OpenSUSE). Come September the summer was over and I gained much knowledge. It's almost October and I'm still learning, going to VM Arch for the challenge and as a learning experience (When I tried the new distros I really only tried 2 or 3 Ubuntu based ones, and didn't get to try OpenSUSE because of the HDD problems). If you have the time and dedication you can learn anything.

If things go right my next laptop will be System76 with Linux Mint XFCE on it, with plenty of room for me to learn as much as I want.

I'm downloading Mint XFCE right now and I'll switch to it first thing in the morning tomorrow. I've tried Mint before and I liked it. The only problem was I was using some software that only runs on Windows (or doesn't run as smooth on Linux). And I'm also a gamer so I couldn't leave Windows altogether.

No need to. Just dual boot. People tend to have applications they need that are Windows specific. I don't need it now, but I'm pretty sure that in a few months I'll have a Windows 8 partition for a few applications I'll need. So just dual boot, and get two systems for the price of one. Happy Linuxing.

I tried to do the gradual thing. In fact, I wanted to have a persistent dual-boot setup but it always seems to go wrong at some point (some GRUB problems or something). I eventually just decided to stick with Linux and have jumped around a few distros and interfaces since (currently using a pretty vanilla Crunchbang installation).

One of the hardest things to replace was my old music-making setup. It's so easy to get a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) up and running with Windows, but it's considerably more difficult (in my experience) with Linux. I think the main problem was that I was trying to do it for free, and eventually settled with Sunvox (instead of Renoise or Reaper, which are actually quite affordable anyway, I think).

Now I don't make much music, and use Linux as my main device for content consumption and also writing etc. I definitely prefer Linux and it's versatility - for instance, my main setup is just a netbook running Crunchbang that's hooked up to my monitor/keyboard/mouse and I rarely experience much slowdown. I wouldn't move back to Windows now, as I prefer to have an open-source OS and it causes me a lot less problems in the long run (less malware, backdoor holes etc.).